Understanding the features in a property that tenants want can make your life as a landlord significantly easier, regardless of whether you’re considering your first investment property or your tenth.
You must be confident that you’re buying an asset that will attract keen demand and a strong rental price.
Your baseline must be the quality of the property itself. It should be clean and well maintained with a functional kitchen, bathroom and reasonably spacious living area. Bedrooms that will take queen-size beds score well, as will a balcony and access to a garden.
As a next step, tenants are looking for lifestyle options. This includes access to stores and restaurants, somewhere to park a car, and access to community facilities like schools, hospitals or universities.
The rental market is becoming increasingly competitive, and so you must ensure your property will be in demand in its immediate area.
As an experienced real estate agent in the neighborhood, I can advise you on rent levels that are currently being achieved and help you find a good tenant who’ll see the property as part of their own long-term future.
The features that I’m seeing that make rental properties more desirable include:
- Comfortable living: While space is all-important, good tenants are looking for homes that offer comfortable living. That means you should have proper heating and cooling.
- Ready to go: Prospective tenants will judge your property as it is. They’re not interested in promises of a new bathroom vanity, an air-conditioning unit or repairs to broken windows or doors in the future. The property must be ready for rent when we show it.
- Safe and secure: Tenants want to feel they’re safe and secure in the property. Security measures, such as deadlocks and bars on windows, are regarded favourably, especially in city properties.
- Room to move: A property with a balcony, or access to a shared garden, are popular, especially as it has become increasingly common for tenants to work from home.
- Fast internet access: It’s a great idea to ensure your investment property has good internet access. Even though you won’t have to pay for the service, this has become a high-demand item.
- Laundry area: A must-have for a reliable tenant. No one wants to spend hours sitting in a launderette, feeding money into washing machines and dryers.
- Dishwasher: Some prospective tenants won’t even walk into a property if it doesn’t have a dishwasher.
- Short walks: If you’re looking to invest in city property, you’ll have an advantage over other properties if your position is near local stores and restaurants, parks or attractive local walks.
- Storage: If there’s somewhere to store personal items such as boxes, a surfboard or motorbike, perhaps a lockable wire cage next to a parking space, this will be a huge plus for prospective tenants.